Reinforcement for concrete coverings.



A. B. TAPPEN.

REINFORCEMENT FOR CONCRETE COVERINGS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE I8, I9I3.

L21 @956% A Patented Jan. 2, 1917.

REINFORCEMENT faience.

Specication of Letters Patent.

=I B. TAPPEN, 0F OSSINING, YORK.

FOR CQNCRETE COVERINGS.

Patented J an. 2, 11917..-

c Application led June 18, 1913. Serial No. 774,308.

To all whom it may concern: A

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER BL TAP- rEN, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Ossining, in the county of Westchester "and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Reinforcements for Concrete Coverings, of which the following is a specification, reference being had .tothe accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

My invention relates to reinforcements for concrete and other composition coverings of structuralmembers such for examrple as steel beams.

One object of my invention is to provide a reinforcement of the character above indicated that shall be relatively compact as an article of manufacture and that shall be adapted to be expanded when it is put into service. f

Another object is to embody in such a reinforcement, means for either spacing the parts of a mold in which the concrete, is to be formed from the. structural member in order to determine its position relative thereto or to positively secure the mold in position or for performing both of these functions.

Other objects and advantages ofmy invention will be set forth hereinafter.

\ l will describe my invention in the following specification and point out the novel features thereof in appended claims.

IReferring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a transverse sectional elevation of the lower part of a beam to which a reinforcement in its contracted state as manufactured, is applied. corresponding view of the l-beam with. the reinforcement expanded, is shown in Fig. 2 together with a portion of the mold whichis assembled about the beam. The projections of the reinforcement which serve to space the members of the mold from the beam are clearly shown. Fig. 3 is a view corresponding to Fig. 2 except that the sectional view is taken so as to clearly show the parts of the reinforcement which hold the members of the mold in position. bottom plan view of the beam of the other figures is shown in Fig. 4, a portion of the reinforcementbeing expanded and a. portion being shown in a contracted form.. This view clearly illustrates the lateral con= traction of the reinforcement when it is ex- 'each point panded longitudinally. Fig. 5 is an isomet ric perspective of a portion of the reinforcement shown in the other figures. Like characters of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures.

V The reinforcement of my inventionpcom# prises Aa series of cross stays or members which are so connected that the reinforcement is capable of being expanded longitudinally of the beam or structural member` to which it is applied and of being contracted laterally thereof, the cross stays or members of the reinforcement being proe vided with attaching projections which hook over the flanges of the beam or structural member when the reinforcement is longitudinally expanded. The extent of longitudinal expansion and lateral contraction fare both limited by the width of the flange to which the reinforcement is applied.

. The projections which hook over the flanges of the structural member, are so arranged as to properly space the cross stays from the adjacent surface of the beam in order that they may be embedded to a suitable depth in the concrete or like composition covering which is applied to the beam. The form of the reinforcement may obviously be -considerably varied within the spirit of my invention and .l intend ythat only such limitations be imposed as are 1ndicated in the appended claims. ln the form shown in the drawings, which are intended to illustrate the principles of my 1nvention, without limiting it to any specific structure, each of the cross stays or members 10 is connected near its respective ends to the adjacent cross stays of the series at opposite sides. ln its contracted form, and as manufactured, the stays are close together and are parallel to each other as shown near the top of Fig. 4. 0n the other hand a. zig-zag structure is produced when the reinforcement is expanded as shown 1n the lowerpartof-Fig-4 and in Fig. 5. Any suitable means may be employedK for securing the cross stays 10 to each othen l prefer to weld an attaching piece 11 at of connection as shown in the drawings. j

By welding the connecting pleces 11 to the wire cross stays, the cross stays are annealed and softened adjacent to the weld but l and consequently when the reinforcement is expanded the bends in the wire come at the point of connectionand the portion of the cross stays between the points of' connection are straight. Another advantage lin this arrangement arises from the fact that it is only necessary to eXert a pull at opposite ends of the reinforcement in order to expand it uniformly.

Beyond the point of connection at one end of each of thecross stays, is an offset projection which is bent inwardly over the cross stay at a suitable distance from it to form an L-shaped hook or socket 12. The other end is extended beyond its point of vconnection to constitute either a spacing projection 13 see Fig. 2) or -a holding projection 14 see Fig. 3). rlhe projections 13 and 14 from some of the cross stays are preferably bent at right angles to the cross stay to constitute either spacers 13*L or holding members 14a. The arrangement of projections is such that the L- shaped hooks or sockets are located alternately at opposite sides of the beam to which the reinforcement is applied and they are so positioned that when the reinforcement is contracted it may be readily applied to the flange of the beam with which it is intended to be used, as clearly shown in Fig. 1. lrVhen the reinforcement is eX- panded, the hooks or sockets are drawn toward the central plane of the beam and consequently the flange fits snugly into the sockets as shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4.

The arrangement of the spacing and holding projections will be determined by the requirements of each particular case and may be 'uniform or-non-uniform. In fact all of the projections may be spacing projections or all of them holding projections. I prefer however, that they may be arranged somewhat as shown in Fig. 5 a pair of holding projections being located between two unlike sets of spacing projections. It may be found desirable however,

y in many cases to provide arelatively few spacing projections and a comparatively large number of holding projections.

My invention is of course not restricted to a reinforcement formed of iron wire or any other specific material, metal strap orexpanded metal being also suitable for this purpose. will depend somewhat upon the form of the structural member to which it is to be applied but anyone skilled in the art will have no diiiculty in making such slight variations as are necessary to adapt the reinforcement to a'beam of any` given cross section.

This invention is an improvement upon the inventions made by David Homer Hayden for which he has applied for Letters Patent, and I do'not claim the general idea The form of the reinforcement connection being bent to form a spacing porl tion and an inwardly facing holding socket,

.and the wires beyond the opposite-points of connection being arranged to form members for spacing and determining the position of the mold in'which the composition is to be formed.

2. A reinforcement for a molded composition covering of structural members comprising a series of wire cross stays each softened and welded near its respective endsto the adjacent cross stays of the series at opposite sides, the wire beyond one of said points of connection beingl bent to form a spacing portion and an inwardly facing holding socket, and the wires beyond the opposite points of connection being arranged to form members for spacing and determining the position of the mold in which the composition is to be formed.

3. A reinforcement for a molded -composition covering of structural members comprising a series of wire cross stays each connected near its respective ends to the adjacent cross stays of the series at opposite sides, the wires beyond onev of said points of connection being bent to form a spacing portion and an inwardly facing holdingV socket comprising an upper holding loop and a lower linger of greater length than that of said loop, and the wires beyond the opposite points of connection being arranged to form members for spacing and determining the position of the mold in which the composition is to be formed.

4. A reinforcement for a molded composition coveringl of' structural members coni'- prising a series of wire cross stays each.con

vnected near its respective ends to the adjacent cross stays of the series at opposite sides, the wire beyondone of said points of connection being bent to form a spacing porprising a series .of wire cross stays each softened and Welded near its respective ends extend through the members of a mold in to the adjacent cross stays of the series .at which the composition is to be formed and opposite sides, the wire beyond one of said to be bent over to hold the mold members in points of connection being bent to form a desired position.

5 spacing portion and an inwardly facing In witness whereof, 1 have hereunto set l5 holding socket, the Wire of the stays beyond my hand this 17 day of June, 1913.

the opposite point of connection being ar- ALEXANDER B. TAPPEN. ranged to forni spacing projections and the /Vitnesses: Wire of others of the stays beyond said opv R. J. DEARBORN,

l0 posite point of connection being arranged to F. GRAVES. 

